1 Peter 3:19
Verse
Context
Suffering for Righteousness
18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, 19in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
Sermons
Norman Grubb
A.W. TozerNorman Grubb
Zac Poonen
George Fox
John GillGeorge FoxSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
By which - Spirit, his own Divine energy and authority. He went and preached - By the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years. Unto the spirits in prison - The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient, and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent; and the long-suffering of God waited one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being in prison - detained under the arrest of Divine justice, which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respite, that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted. This I have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage, and no other that I have seen is so consistent with the whole scope of the place. That the Spirit of God did strive with, convict, and reprove the antediluvians, is evident from Gen 6:3 : My Spirit shall not always strive with man, forasmuch as he is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. And it was by this Spirit that Noah became a preacher of righteousness, and condemned that ungodly world, Heb 11:7, who would not believe till wrath - Divine punishment, came upon them to the uttermost. The word πνευμασι, spirits, is supposed to render this view of the subject improbable, because this must mean disembodied spirits; but this certainly does not follow, for the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb 12:23, certainly means righteous men, and men still in the Church militant; and the Father of spirits, Heb 12:9, means men still in the body; and the God of the spirits of all flesh, Num 16:22; Num 27:16, means men not in a disembodied state. But even on this word there are several various readings; some of the Greek MSS. read πνευματι, in spirit, and one Πνευματι Ἁγιῳ, in the Holy Spirit. I have before me one of the first, if not the very first edition of the Latin Bible; and in it the verse stands thus: In quo et hiis, qui in carcere erant, Spiritualiter veniens praedicavit; "by which he came spiritually, and preached to them that were in prison." In two very ancient MSS. of the Vulgate before me, the clause is thus: In quo et his qui in carcere erant Spiritu venient praedicavit; "in which, coming by the Spirit, he preached to those who were in prison." This is the reading also in the Complutensian Polyglot. Another ancient MS. in my possession has the words nearly as in the printed copy: In quo et hiis qui in carcere Conclusi erant Spiritualiter veniens praedicavit; "in which, coming spiritually, he preached to those who were Shut Up in prison." Another MS., written about a.d. 1370, is the same as the printed copy. The common printed Vulgate is different from all these, and from all the MSS. of the Vulgate which I have seen in reading spiritibus, "to the spirits." In my old MS. Bible, which contains the first translation into English ever made, the clause is the following: In whiche thing and to hem that weren closid togyder in prison, hi commynge in Spirit, prechide. The copy from which this translation was taken evidently read conclusi erdnt, with one of the MSS. quoted above, as closid togyder proves. I have quoted all these authorities from the most authentic and correct copies of the Vulgate, to show that from them there is no ground to believe that the text speaks of Christ's going to hell to preach the Gospel to the damned, or of his going to some feigned place where the souls of the patriarchs were detained, to whom he preached, and whom he delivered from that place and took with him to paradise, which the Romish Church holds as an article of faith. Though the judicious Calmet holds with his Church this opinion, yet he cannot consider the text of St. Peter as a proof of it. I will set down his own words: Le sentiment qui veut que Jesus Christ soit descendu aux enfers, pour annoncer sa venue aux anciens patriarches, et pour les tirer de cette espece de prison, ou ils Pattendoient si long tems, est indubitable; et nous le regardons comme un article de notre foi: mais on peut douter que ce soit le sens de Saint Pierre en cet endroit. "The opinion which states that Jesus Christ descended into hell, to announce his coming to the ancient patriarchs, and to deliver them from that species of prison, where they had so long waited for him, is incontrovertible; and we (the Catholics) consider it as an article of our faith: but we may doubt whether this be the meaning of St. Peter in this place." Some think the whole passage applies to the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles; but the interpretation given above appears to me, after the fullest consideration, to be the most consistent and rational, as I have already remarked.
John Gill Bible Commentary
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us,.... The ark, and deliverance by it, as it was a type of Christ, and salvation by him, so it was a figure of baptism, and baptism was the antitype of that; or there is something in these which correspond, and answer to, and bear a resemblance to each other: as the ark was God's ordinance, and not man's invention, so is baptism, it is of heaven, and not of men; and as the ark, while it was preparing, was the scorn and derision of men, so is this ordinance of the Gospel; it was rejected with disdain by the Scribes and Pharisees, as it still is by many; and as the ark, when Noah and his family were shut up in it by God, represented a burial, and they seemed, as it were, to be buried in it, it was a lively emblem of baptism, which is expressed by a burial, Rom 6:4 and as they in the ark had the great deep broke up under them, and the windows of heaven opened over them, pouring out waters upon them, they were, as it were, immersed in, and were covered with water, this fitly figured baptism by immersion; nor were there any but adult persons that entered into the ark, nor should any be baptized but believers; to which may be added, that as the one saved by water, so does the other; for it is water baptism which is here designed, which John practised, Christ gave a commission for, and his disciples administered: it saves not as a cause, for it has no causal influence on, nor is it essential to salvation. Christ only is the cause and author of eternal salvation; and as those only that were in the ark were saved by water, so those only that are in Christ, and that are baptized into Christ, and into his death, are saved by baptism; not everyone that is baptized, but he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved, Mar 16:16, for baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh; the design of it is not to take off the sordid flesh, as circumcision did; or in a ceremonious way, outwardly, to sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, as the Jewish baptisms did; see Heb 9:10, or to take away either original or actual sin; this only the blood of Christ can do; and it is not a mere external cleansing of the body: but the answer of a good conscience towards God; the Vulgate Latin renders it, "the interrogation of a good conscience"; referring, it may be, to the interrogations that used to be put to those who desired baptism; as, dost thou renounce Satan? dost thou believe in Christ? see Act 8:36, others render it, "the stipulation of a good conscience"; alluding also to the ancient custom of obliging those that were baptized to covenant and agree to live an holy life and conversation, to renounce the devil and all his works, and the pomps and vanities of this world; and baptism does certainly lay an obligation on men to walk in newness of life; see Rom 6:4, the Ethiopic version renders it, "confession of God"; and to this the Syriac version agrees, rendering it, "confessing God with a pure conscience"; for, to baptism, profession of faith in Christ, and of the doctrine of Christ in a pure conscience, is requisite; and in baptism persons make a public confession of God, and openly put on Christ before men: the sense seems plainly this; that then is baptism rightly performed, and its end answered, when a person, conscious to himself of its being an ordinance of Christ, and of his duty to submit to it, does do so upon profession of his faith in Christ, in obedience to his command, and "with" a view to his glory; in doing which he discharges a good conscience towards God: and being thus performed, it saves, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; being a means of leading the faith of the baptized person, as to the blood of Christ, for pardon and cleansing, so to the resurrection of Christ, to justification; see Act 2:38, moreover, the sense of the passage may be this, that baptism is a like figure as the ark of Noah was; that as the entrance of Noah and his family into the ark was an emblem of a burial, so their coming out of it was a figure of the resurrection; and just such a figure is baptism, performed by immersion, both of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and of the resurrection of saints to walk in newness of life. The Arabic version renders the whole verse thus; "of which thing baptism is now a type saving us, not by removing the filth of the flesh only, but by exhilarating a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ".
Tyndale Open Study Notes
3:19-20 This difficult passage has been widely interpreted in three ways: (1) One interpretation holds that it refers to the spirits of people who have died and that Christ, after his resurrection, preached the Good News to these spirits. However, the idea that people might hear the Good News and respond after their deaths is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, and this meaning of spirits is not the most likely. (2) A second interpretation sees 3:19-20 as describing Christ’s preaching through Noah to people who are now spirits in prison. This interpretation does justice to 3:20 but does not fit well in the discussion of Christ’s death and resurrection (3:18). (3) In the third interpretation, the spirits in prison are evil spiritual beings. Jewish tradition, based on Gen 6:1-4, held that many angels fell in the time of Noah (see also Jude 1:6; 1 Enoch 6–10). Peter’s point would then be that Christ proclaimed his victory over the evil spiritual powers after his resurrection (cp. 1 Pet 3:22).
1 Peter 3:19
Suffering for Righteousness
18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit, 19in whom He also went and preached to the spirits in prison 20who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In the ark a few people, only eight souls, were saved through water.
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
The Meaning of Life - 2. Where We Begin
By Norman Grubb7.5K53:51Meaning Of LifeMAT 6:331PE 3:19In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the concept of slavery and freedom in relation to our spiritual lives. They explain that as humans, we are all slaves to something, whether it be our own choices or the influence of a false god. The speaker highlights the importance of choosing to be vessels of mercy rather than vessels of wrath, and how this choice reflects our royalty as individuals. They also discuss the idea of being motivated by God and the need for a spiritual response to Him. Overall, the sermon encourages listeners to recognize their need for redemption and to choose to align themselves with God's purpose.
How to Identify a False Cult
By A.W. Tozer4.0K28:54False CultPSA 145:17MAT 16:18ROM 14:111CO 15:291TI 3:2HEB 9:271PE 3:19In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of judgment and the role of Jesus in preaching to those who have died. He emphasizes that God treats every human being as an intelligent being and never violates their intelligence. The preacher also delves into the difficulty of understanding certain passages in the Bible, using the example of baptism and the resurrection of Christ. He concludes by highlighting the importance of seeking knowledge and not being content with ignorance.
Where We Begin
By Norman Grubb3.1K54:36ISA 14:12EZK 28:17JHN 1:9ROM 5:5ROM 6:8HEB 12:231PE 3:19In this sermon, the preacher discusses the concept of slavery and how it has been the eternal purpose of God. He explains that as humans, we have been enslaved to our flesh and have gone astray from God's intended plan. The preacher emphasizes the importance of choosing to align ourselves with the spirit rather than the flesh. He also highlights the need to experience and rely on the availability and desirability of God's presence in our lives.
Standing for God in the Last Days
By Zac Poonen7541:19:39GEN 6:9GEN 19:16MAT 11:25LUK 17:262TI 3:131PE 3:192PE 2:7
This sermon emphasizes the importance of standing firm in righteousness and obedience to God's word in the last days, drawing parallels between the days of Noah and Lot with the present times. It highlights the need to be like Noah, unwavering in righteousness, and to be disturbed by the evil conduct around us. The examples of Noah and Lot serve as a call to uphold God's standards amidst a corrupt world and compromised Christianity.
Epistle 114
By George Fox0MAT 11:5MAT 28:19MRK 16:15JHN 1:51CO 9:102CO 5:11COL 1:231PE 3:19JUD 1:6REV 14:6George Fox preaches about the importance of dwelling in the mighty power of God, being sent by God to minister to all spirits and testify against deceivers. He emphasizes preaching the gospel to every creature, disciplining them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and proclaiming the mighty day of the Lord to those in darkness. Fox urges believers to plant in hope, thresh in hope, and preach the everlasting gospel in the power of the Lord Jesus Christ, performing miracles by His power.
1 Peter 3:19
By John Gill0The Nature of SalvationChrist's PreachingGEN 6:3MAT 12:41LUK 16:22JHN 8:58ROM 10:14EPH 2:17HEB 1:21PE 3:192PE 2:5REV 20:7John Gill explores 1 Peter 3:19, discussing the various interpretations of Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison. He argues against the notion that Christ's human soul descended to hell or a place called 'Limbus Patrum' to save the Old Testament saints, emphasizing that the text refers to Christ's divine nature and the spirits of the disobedient. Gill concludes that the passage likely refers to Christ preaching through Noah to the people of his time, who ultimately faced judgment for their disobedience. He highlights that Christ existed in his divine nature before his incarnation and actively fulfilled his role as Mediator even in the Old Testament. The sermon underscores the continuity of the Gospel message throughout biblical history.
Epistle 43
By George Fox0GEN 27:28ISA 30:7LAM 3:26MAL 3:2MAT 11:30LUK 16:81CO 13:5GAL 5:12TI 4:2JAS 4:41PE 3:191JN 5:1JUD 1:6REV 17:14George Fox preaches to the brethren, encouraging them to stand together in God's power and not be discouraged by external enemies. He emphasizes the importance of holding onto freedom in Christ, being armed with wisdom against worldly influences, and waiting in purity to comprehend God's wisdom. Fox urges believers to abide trials, stand firm in their freedom from worldly bondage, and wait for redemption. He also calls for unity among friends, exhorting them to speak words of eternal life, reprove evil, and meet together in the spirit to experience God's presence. The sermon concludes with blessings of God's love, guidance, and protection for the faithful who overcome the world through their faith.
Epistle 33
By George Fox0ISA 8:13MAT 18:20MAT 28:20JHN 3:19JHN 17:14ACT 26:18ROM 2:15ROM 5:17GAL 6:81PE 3:19George Fox preaches about the importance of waiting in the light of Christ, being guided by His power and wisdom, and manifesting the fear and dread of the Lord in all aspects of life. He emphasizes the need to be obedient to the power that comes from Christ, to avoid stumbling blocks, and to walk in righteousness and truth. Fox urges believers to condemn anything contrary to the light of Christ, to keep strife away, and to let the Prince of peace reign in their hearts.
- Adam Clarke
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
By which - Spirit, his own Divine energy and authority. He went and preached - By the ministry of Noah, one hundred and twenty years. Unto the spirits in prison - The inhabitants of the antediluvian world, who, having been disobedient, and convicted of the most flagrant transgressions against God, were sentenced by his just law to destruction. But their punishment was delayed to see if they would repent; and the long-suffering of God waited one hundred and twenty years, which were granted to them for this purpose; during which time, as criminals tried and convicted, they are represented as being in prison - detained under the arrest of Divine justice, which waited either for their repentance or the expiration of the respite, that the punishment pronounced might be inflicted. This I have long believed to be the sense of this difficult passage, and no other that I have seen is so consistent with the whole scope of the place. That the Spirit of God did strive with, convict, and reprove the antediluvians, is evident from Gen 6:3 : My Spirit shall not always strive with man, forasmuch as he is flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years. And it was by this Spirit that Noah became a preacher of righteousness, and condemned that ungodly world, Heb 11:7, who would not believe till wrath - Divine punishment, came upon them to the uttermost. The word πνευμασι, spirits, is supposed to render this view of the subject improbable, because this must mean disembodied spirits; but this certainly does not follow, for the spirits of just men made perfect, Heb 12:23, certainly means righteous men, and men still in the Church militant; and the Father of spirits, Heb 12:9, means men still in the body; and the God of the spirits of all flesh, Num 16:22; Num 27:16, means men not in a disembodied state. But even on this word there are several various readings; some of the Greek MSS. read πνευματι, in spirit, and one Πνευματι Ἁγιῳ, in the Holy Spirit. I have before me one of the first, if not the very first edition of the Latin Bible; and in it the verse stands thus: In quo et hiis, qui in carcere erant, Spiritualiter veniens praedicavit; "by which he came spiritually, and preached to them that were in prison." In two very ancient MSS. of the Vulgate before me, the clause is thus: In quo et his qui in carcere erant Spiritu venient praedicavit; "in which, coming by the Spirit, he preached to those who were in prison." This is the reading also in the Complutensian Polyglot. Another ancient MS. in my possession has the words nearly as in the printed copy: In quo et hiis qui in carcere Conclusi erant Spiritualiter veniens praedicavit; "in which, coming spiritually, he preached to those who were Shut Up in prison." Another MS., written about a.d. 1370, is the same as the printed copy. The common printed Vulgate is different from all these, and from all the MSS. of the Vulgate which I have seen in reading spiritibus, "to the spirits." In my old MS. Bible, which contains the first translation into English ever made, the clause is the following: In whiche thing and to hem that weren closid togyder in prison, hi commynge in Spirit, prechide. The copy from which this translation was taken evidently read conclusi erdnt, with one of the MSS. quoted above, as closid togyder proves. I have quoted all these authorities from the most authentic and correct copies of the Vulgate, to show that from them there is no ground to believe that the text speaks of Christ's going to hell to preach the Gospel to the damned, or of his going to some feigned place where the souls of the patriarchs were detained, to whom he preached, and whom he delivered from that place and took with him to paradise, which the Romish Church holds as an article of faith. Though the judicious Calmet holds with his Church this opinion, yet he cannot consider the text of St. Peter as a proof of it. I will set down his own words: Le sentiment qui veut que Jesus Christ soit descendu aux enfers, pour annoncer sa venue aux anciens patriarches, et pour les tirer de cette espece de prison, ou ils Pattendoient si long tems, est indubitable; et nous le regardons comme un article de notre foi: mais on peut douter que ce soit le sens de Saint Pierre en cet endroit. "The opinion which states that Jesus Christ descended into hell, to announce his coming to the ancient patriarchs, and to deliver them from that species of prison, where they had so long waited for him, is incontrovertible; and we (the Catholics) consider it as an article of our faith: but we may doubt whether this be the meaning of St. Peter in this place." Some think the whole passage applies to the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles; but the interpretation given above appears to me, after the fullest consideration, to be the most consistent and rational, as I have already remarked.
John Gill Bible Commentary
The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us,.... The ark, and deliverance by it, as it was a type of Christ, and salvation by him, so it was a figure of baptism, and baptism was the antitype of that; or there is something in these which correspond, and answer to, and bear a resemblance to each other: as the ark was God's ordinance, and not man's invention, so is baptism, it is of heaven, and not of men; and as the ark, while it was preparing, was the scorn and derision of men, so is this ordinance of the Gospel; it was rejected with disdain by the Scribes and Pharisees, as it still is by many; and as the ark, when Noah and his family were shut up in it by God, represented a burial, and they seemed, as it were, to be buried in it, it was a lively emblem of baptism, which is expressed by a burial, Rom 6:4 and as they in the ark had the great deep broke up under them, and the windows of heaven opened over them, pouring out waters upon them, they were, as it were, immersed in, and were covered with water, this fitly figured baptism by immersion; nor were there any but adult persons that entered into the ark, nor should any be baptized but believers; to which may be added, that as the one saved by water, so does the other; for it is water baptism which is here designed, which John practised, Christ gave a commission for, and his disciples administered: it saves not as a cause, for it has no causal influence on, nor is it essential to salvation. Christ only is the cause and author of eternal salvation; and as those only that were in the ark were saved by water, so those only that are in Christ, and that are baptized into Christ, and into his death, are saved by baptism; not everyone that is baptized, but he that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved, Mar 16:16, for baptism is not the putting away of the filth of the flesh; the design of it is not to take off the sordid flesh, as circumcision did; or in a ceremonious way, outwardly, to sanctify to the purifying of the flesh, as the Jewish baptisms did; see Heb 9:10, or to take away either original or actual sin; this only the blood of Christ can do; and it is not a mere external cleansing of the body: but the answer of a good conscience towards God; the Vulgate Latin renders it, "the interrogation of a good conscience"; referring, it may be, to the interrogations that used to be put to those who desired baptism; as, dost thou renounce Satan? dost thou believe in Christ? see Act 8:36, others render it, "the stipulation of a good conscience"; alluding also to the ancient custom of obliging those that were baptized to covenant and agree to live an holy life and conversation, to renounce the devil and all his works, and the pomps and vanities of this world; and baptism does certainly lay an obligation on men to walk in newness of life; see Rom 6:4, the Ethiopic version renders it, "confession of God"; and to this the Syriac version agrees, rendering it, "confessing God with a pure conscience"; for, to baptism, profession of faith in Christ, and of the doctrine of Christ in a pure conscience, is requisite; and in baptism persons make a public confession of God, and openly put on Christ before men: the sense seems plainly this; that then is baptism rightly performed, and its end answered, when a person, conscious to himself of its being an ordinance of Christ, and of his duty to submit to it, does do so upon profession of his faith in Christ, in obedience to his command, and "with" a view to his glory; in doing which he discharges a good conscience towards God: and being thus performed, it saves, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ; being a means of leading the faith of the baptized person, as to the blood of Christ, for pardon and cleansing, so to the resurrection of Christ, to justification; see Act 2:38, moreover, the sense of the passage may be this, that baptism is a like figure as the ark of Noah was; that as the entrance of Noah and his family into the ark was an emblem of a burial, so their coming out of it was a figure of the resurrection; and just such a figure is baptism, performed by immersion, both of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, and of the resurrection of saints to walk in newness of life. The Arabic version renders the whole verse thus; "of which thing baptism is now a type saving us, not by removing the filth of the flesh only, but by exhilarating a good conscience towards God, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ".
Tyndale Open Study Notes
3:19-20 This difficult passage has been widely interpreted in three ways: (1) One interpretation holds that it refers to the spirits of people who have died and that Christ, after his resurrection, preached the Good News to these spirits. However, the idea that people might hear the Good News and respond after their deaths is not found elsewhere in the New Testament, and this meaning of spirits is not the most likely. (2) A second interpretation sees 3:19-20 as describing Christ’s preaching through Noah to people who are now spirits in prison. This interpretation does justice to 3:20 but does not fit well in the discussion of Christ’s death and resurrection (3:18). (3) In the third interpretation, the spirits in prison are evil spiritual beings. Jewish tradition, based on Gen 6:1-4, held that many angels fell in the time of Noah (see also Jude 1:6; 1 Enoch 6–10). Peter’s point would then be that Christ proclaimed his victory over the evil spiritual powers after his resurrection (cp. 1 Pet 3:22).